Turbulent Times
"I love you, suckers… I mean, valued customers. This is V-Live Company. How may I help you?"
That was the line I'd been pushing hard lately.
If you wanted to promote the company's identity, a greeting like that was perfect.
I'd actually planned to just let Wang-ko pass by, but here he was, paying a personal visit.
A quick check showed twenty-seven thousand viewers right now—at the very least I had to put on a good show of hospitality.
"Yeah. First time here today, just looking around."
"Ah, I see. Hello, I'm Seo-a, leader of the virtual crew V-Live! In Rena World, president of V-Live Company! The virtual streamer who shone with the Rookie of the Year award at the 2022 year-end awards ceremony. Please check out the V-Live YouTube channel's Christmas carols~ lots of views please~ lots of views please~"
"……."
I could feel the sheer absurdity radiating from Wang-ko's gaze.
Ahem! Did I overdo it a little?
But this was the age of self-PR!
If it meant my crew could succeed, I could plaster my face with iron a hundred times over.
This was the weight of leadership!
Park Nana had eventually broken under the pressure, but for someone like me, tempered from the bottom ranks of a shitty small company, this was nothing.
"Ahem. I've got a question. Are those people working over there company employees?"
"Ah, those guys? Not employees—debtors. Our company also doubles as a finance business, you see."
"……."
What was this? The way Wang-ko was looking at me felt off.
It was almost… yes! Exactly the same look Mayo got whenever she stared at junglers.
"Forced labor and loan-sharking in this peaceful healing world!"
"Huh? No, look, we even filed proper business registration…"
"That's what every loan shark says."
This guy was clearly under some serious misunderstanding.
I was nothing more than a pure-hearted financier who strictly observed Rena World's legal interest rate of five percent!
But then Ranchu and the others, summoned over by Wang-ko to give statements, staged a full-blown rebellion.
"He kept threatening us, saying he'd eaten ratatouille with our chairman and gambled on Mending books together…"
"He said he'd dock a thousand Rena from our pay every time we picked a tomato wrong."
"He chewed me out saying even the puppy he used to raise, Poppy, could plant beets better than me!"
"……."
Ahem. Listening to them, maybe I had gone a little hard?
But I still had airtight defensive logic ready.
"Yeah~ the fact that they suck at their jobs is just facts. And I still paid them full minimum wage~ tsk tsk. These MZ kids these days can't do the work but know labor law inside out. End times, I tell you. End times."
"…Seo-a. You're the youngest one here except for Ju2."
Oh-ha's sudden interjection left me momentarily speechless.
Seriously, launching a cheap out-of-bounds attack like that?
But I still had plenty of attack cards left.
"To tell you the truth, these people are malicious debtors. Last time they borrowed twenty million Rena and repaid not a single coin, then came back and borrowed another twenty million on top of that! Absolute scum! So we've been working off the debt through forced labor."
"Huh? Well, yeah, we did borrow it, but…"
"Everyone, just imagine a friend who borrows money and then digs in their heels, telling you to go ahead and cut their belly open. It might look harsh to an outsider, but this is legitimate labor!"
"Whoa! Ranchu, you guys are insane. You borrowed forty million Rena? When the hell are you planning to pay that back?"
"No, our chairman keeps using the borrowed money to gamble on Mending books! I'm going crazy too!"
Ranchu vented his rage by trash-talking Chairman Kim Hak-do, the true root of all evil.
I just shrugged and once again emphasized that internal problems at Lethal Company were none of my business, and that this was simply honest labor for debt relief.
Feel wronged? (Why?)
If you feel wronged, just don't take on debt in the first place? (For real, no idea?)
Wang-ko, who had watched the entire thing from start to finish, looked at me with a strange expression and said,
"No, this person is talent optimized for the PUBG scene."
"I think so too, hyung."
"……."
Is that a compliment? Or…
Tuesday, January 3rd.
Wang-ko entered Rena World.
But the influx of big names didn't stop there.
Rena-ttang, who had hosted Part 3 of the 2022 Pangea TV year-end awards ceremony, had run into streamer NS Namshin at the time. She was now talking about the impression on stream with Apple-mong.
"I'm telling you, the real thing was no joke. Unnie, you've met plenty of celebrities. He was genuinely celebrity-level."
"Waaah! Listening to you talk, Unnie, it almost sounds like you've fallen for him."
"Plmong! What are you even saying right now. Unnie's a married woman."
That little cuckoo of appearance praise flew straight over to NS Namshin's stream, and once he heard about it, NS Namshin left a compliment of his own, saying Rena-ttang wasn't a former celebrity for nothing.
"Rena World looks pretty fun these days. Honestly, I used to be interested in Minecraft myself and played a bit. But Wang-ko told me, 'Hyung, if you play Minecraft your stream's finished.' And now I hear he's joining Rena World soon. What a hilarious guy."
This time the cuckoo flew from NS Namshin's side toward Rena-ttang.
Naturally, Rena-ttang was delighted.
If the standard for a major-corp streamer was consistently holding over ten thousand concurrent viewers, then unfortunately NS Namshin fell short of that mark.
But he still maintained a solid seven to eight thousand—roughly the combined size of two mid-tier streamers—and more importantly, his Candy power was exceptional.
NS Namshin served as the representative of the popular entertainment crew "Shini Group." The crew's storytelling and immersion were so strong that the number of loyal fans was enormous.
Because of that, his influence was practically on par with most major-corp streamers.
"NS Namshin-nim, you're welcome anytime. I'll even give you one recommendation ticket so you can bring whoever you want into the server with you."
"Ah, with the Shini Group I won't be able to come too often. But understood. I'll carve out some time somehow and enjoy Rena World myself."
NS Namshin's entry into Rena World.
With that, the only major-corp streamers left on Pangea TV were Baek-gu, Jamst, and Lee Seong-ho.
More than half of the major-corp streamers had now joined.
Naturally, Rena World had become part of Pangea TV's mainstream.
Of course, Park Bong-sik had declared a long hiatus, so there was still a slight shortfall—but once he returned, Rena World would truly become the massive server that everyone was watching.
"I was one step too late. But there's still a way."
Meanwhile, mid-tier Pangea TV streamer Yu Seona was grinding her teeth.
To think even Wang-ko and NS Namshin would enter Rena World.
If she'd known it would turn out like this, she would have reached out behind the scenes earlier.
She had already publicly announced it on stream, so it was far too late to reverse course.
If she suddenly switched servers now, the backtalk would be inevitable no matter who looked at it.
From Yu Seona's perspective, it truly felt like a cruel twist of fate.
Of all days, Wang-ko and NS Namshin decided to move into Rena World on the exact day she posted the resident recruitment notice for Seona Land.
What's done is done. I just have to gather whoever's left somehow…
There were still half the major-corp streamers remaining.
And plenty of influential mid-tiers as well.
People like Ssa-yo, for example… if all of them chose Seona Land, it would become a considerable force.
And who knows. Bong-sik might have taken a bite, but he hasn't officially locked in Rena World yet. He only said he'd think about it positively. If I can somehow persuade him and bring just Bong-sik over…
Park Bong-sik's influence was easily equal to two ordinary major-corp streamers combined.
If she could snatch only Park Bong-sik, Seona Land still had a real shot at winning.
Don't get excited. Stay calm. First post the resident recruitment notice, then contact the streamers with real weight. Come to think of it, Rena World doesn't seem to have any StarCraft-origin streamers.
Yu Seona was a former team owner of Star University NSU and had rock-solid connections on that side.
If she could pull StarCraft streamers over, it would definitely help raise the server's overall tier.
And I need to take in a lot of virtuals too. The whole reason I even thought of Minecraft was for V-Topia in the first place.
Ironically, though, V-Topia members Ppogeum and Han Se-bin were already residents of Rena World.
So Yu Seona had no choice but to deliberate.
Should she tell the two of them to abandon the server and come over?
"So I wanted to hear what you two think. What do you feel?"
"I'll switch over. I want to play with my crew friends."
Han Se-bin stated her opinion as if she'd been waiting for the question.
But Ppogeum couldn't answer easily and hemmed and hawed.
"Ppogeum, what's wrong? Something you want to say?"
"Well… there's been some talk going around lately."
"What kind of talk?"
"That Seona-nim is copying Rena-ttang to keep her in check by making a Minecraft server. And that soon she'll try to pull not just the V-Topia members but other virtuals too."
"What?"
It was a rumor that had been circulating in the underground communities at the time.
In particular, the server dogs who protected Rena World had actively pushed that narrative and steered public opinion.
Yu Seona, who valued face and image above all, naturally bristled.
And she changed her thinking.
"Ppogeum, for now you stay on that server."
That was Yu Seona's judgment.
If Ppogeum, a V-Topia member, remained in Rena World, a large portion of the weird conspiracy theories could be blocked for the time being.
It was also a quiet trap.
If Rena-ttang, whose feelings had been hurt by the existence of Seona Land, went so far as to kick Ppogeum out of the server, community opinion would turn extremely ugly.
I've been rolling around in the streaming scene for eight years already. Let's see who wins this one.
It was the beginning of a server war that would call forth a brand-new Gald Cup.